Data available on the Internet is searchable using various search engines. However, search result data may not be useful in the form presented or may only be useful after the user manually retrieves the data by copying and pasting the information or by manually typing the data into another document.
Using the Internet to identify people, places or businesses in a specific geographical location is difficult because search strings entered in search engines typically result in a myriad of data being presented to the user, some of which may not be useful. For example, searching for a company having a common address may result in retrieval of data for multiple companies having the common address. In addition, searching for a person or business in a specific geographical location may yield results for persons or businesses in the geographical area as well as outside of the location of interest. For each of these search results the user is required to sort through a large volume of information to identify useful information.
In addition, generating lists of people, places or businesses in a particular locale using the Internet as a search tool is labor intensive because each list entry needs to be entered by the user, which may involve various data manipulation functions such as manual copying and pasting, typing, parsing, and/or formatting. As a result, those desiring to generate a list of people and/or businesses in a certain location have resorted to manual entry of phone listings from printed phone books. When places, e.g., properties, are to be identified, a user is required to enter property search criteria one-by-one.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method capable of generating lists of relevant information for people, places and for businesses within a geographical area.